Geologist says dinosaur fossils found in western India

AHMEDABAD: A geologist said Saturday his team had discovered what it believed were dinosaur fossils in the western Indian state of Gujarat that could be millions of years old.

The team, of 10 mainly German and Indian archaeologists and researchers, dug up the fossils during excavations in Gujarat’s marshy coastal district of Kutch, Gaurav Chauhan said. “We have found three portions of hip bones of (a) dinosaur,”

Chauhan, a geologist from Gujarat’s Kutch University and a member of the excavation team, told AFP. “We have been working on this site since (the) last 10 days or so,” he said.

Chauhan said carbon-dating tests would need to be carried out to try to determine the age of the bones, while more examinations were needed to identify the type.

Gujarat, sometimes dubbed India’s Jurassic Park, is home to one of the world’s largest collections of dinosaur remains.

In 2003, a National Geographic team discovered a new dinosaur species in Gujarat after examining fossils found scattered along the Narmada River.

The dinosaur was named “Rajasaurus Narmadensis” or the regal reptile from Narmada, which was a 30-foot-long, carnivorous and stocky animal, with an unusual head crest.

And a large dinosaur egg hatchery has been discovered in the town of Balasinor, some 90 kilometres (55 miles) south of the state’s main city of Ahmedabad.